The present disclosure relates generally to vehicle diagnostic record mapping and in particular, to a method of mapping semi-structured vehicle diagnostic records into structured target records that may be utilized to assist in vehicle diagnostics.
Many automotive repair shops, including car dealerships and independent repair shops, have some form of computerized record keeping for vehicle diagnosis and repair. Records that contain data to explain the reason the car was brought in for service, the resulting diagnosis and the actions taken to service the vehicle are typically entered into a computer system. This information may be used to print detailed service information on the customer invoices as well as for service technicians to view detailed service records for a particular vehicle. In addition, the service record information may be accessed by other service technicians in the repair shop that are performing similar services on other vehicles. In many cases, a trade-off exists between collecting data that is reusable and making data entry as easy as possible for the service technician. To collect data that is reusable, the computer system could force the service technician to enter, or to select from a menu, specific terms to describe the vehicle, the symptoms and the actions taken. This data could then be saved in a structured target-record format within a database of vehicle diagnosis information. However, a service technician may prefer to enter free-text data. In this manner, the service technician can describe the problem as he sees it and not worry about trying to fit each piece of information into a particular category using a pre-defined vocabulary. Text-mining software may be utilized to search for particular words and phrases within a free-text document and to perform particular actions based on the results of the search. Rules, including the particular words and phrases, may be defined in advanced and the text-mining software can be instructed to choose among several meanings of a word based on context. Alternatively, the process of converting free-text data into a structured target record format could be performed by an expert who is familiar with vehicle diagnosis and the standard vocabulary.
Both of these approaches have pitfalls. For example, forcing the use of a controlled vocabulary and the entry of data only in structured attributes could lead to losing valuable insight into the diagnosis process because the service technician may not find a category that exactly matches the information he has acquired. In addition, the computer system might need frequent upgrades to account for new vehicle models and new service trends. Because data entry may be difficult and too structured, the service technician may not enter data into the system at all or the service technician may enter data that is incomplete or inaccurate. Using text-mining tools to extract information from free-text data may make it difficult to group and re-use the data because of a lack of standard terminology on which to base searches and groupings. Further, depending on the service technician entering the data, different categories of information may be entered, again making it difficult to consolidate data across records. These problems of inconsistent and incomplete data may be magnified when records from more than one repair facility are to be included in the database of structured service records.
One aspect of the present invention is a method for vehicle diagnostic record mapping. In an exemplary embodiment, the method comprises receiving a vehicle service record. A target record is created in response to receiving the vehicle service record. The target record includes a target-record number attribute, a set of vehicle-description attributes, a set of bookkeeping attributes, a set of system attributes, a set of symptom attributes, and a set of action attributes. Vehicle description data is mapped into the set of vehicle-description attributes in response to locating the vehicle description data in the vehicle service record. Bookkeeping data is mapped into the set of bookkeeping attributes in response to locating the bookkeeping data in the vehicle service record. Vehicle system data is mapped into the set of system attributes in response to locating the system data in the vehicle service record. Symptom data is mapped into the set of symptom attributes in response to locating the symptom data in the vehicle service record. Action data is mapped into the set of action attributes in response to locating the action data in the vehicle service record.
In another aspect, a system for vehicle diagnostic record mapping comprises a network and a host system in communication with the network. The host system includes application software to implement a method for receiving a vehicle service record. A target record is created in response to receiving the vehicle service record. The target record includes a target-record number attribute, a set of vehicle-description attributes, a set of bookkeeping attributes, a set of system attributes, a set of symptom attributes, and a set of action attributes. Vehicle description data is mapped into the set of vehicle-description attributes in response to locating the vehicle description data in the vehicle service record. Bookkeeping data is mapped into the set of bookkeeping attributes in response to locating the bookkeeping data in the vehicle service record. Vehicle system data is mapped into the set of system attributes in response to locating the system data in the vehicle service record. Symptom data is mapped into the set of symptom attributes in response to locating the symptom data in the vehicle service record. Action data is mapped into the set of action attributes in response to locating the action data in the vehicle service record.
In a further aspect, a computer program product for vehicle diagnostic record mapping comprises a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising receiving vehicle service record. A target record is created in response to receiving the vehicle service record. The target record includes a target-record number attribute, a set of vehicle-description attributes, a set of bookkeeping attributes, a set of system attributes, a set of symptom attributes, and a set of action attributes. Vehicle description data is mapped into the set of vehicle-description attributes in response to locating the vehicle description data in the vehicle service record. Bookkeeping data is mapped into the set of bookkeeping attributes in response to locating the bookkeeping data in the vehicle service record. Vehicle system data is mapped into the set of system attributes in response to locating the system data in the vehicle service record. Symptom data is mapped into the set of symptom attributes in response to locating the symptom data in the vehicle service record. Action data is mapped into the set of action attributes in response to locating the action data in the vehicle service record.